Considered to be the 'best motorcycle racer ever', Mike Hailwood® is a legend to which others can only aspire to. He won his first World Championship at the age of twenty one. He won 9 World Championships, 76 Grand Prix wins and 14 T.T Races on the notoriously dangerous Isle of Man course.

Mike Hailwood® first began his legendary relationship with Ducati in 1958 when his father Stan Hailwood made a request to Ducati for a championship winning 250cc bike. It was Mike’s first full racing season and he was only 18 years old at the time.

It seemed destiny was on Mike’s side. As Fabio Taglioni (Doctor T) built the Ducati 250, a fine Twin cylinder for the young rider. The bike came with a bore and stroke of 55.25 x 55 mm, the same as the 125 desmo valve gear. The distribution was driven by a central gear train. The finished bike delivered 37 HP at 11,600 revs and was equipped with a twin tube cradle frame.

Taglioni saw scores of heroes and champions come and go, but his core recollections always go back to Mike. Taglioni once said, as a joke, that Mike's long feet ruined the look of "his" bikes. Regardless of the size of his feet, the Desmo 250, piloted by Mike Hailwood®, had dominated the racetracks through many triumphant victories.

When there was nothing left to prove on two wheels, he turned to motor racing. In his first full year of motor racing he finished third in the Formula 5000 Championship and third in the famous 24 hour race at Le Mans. He went on to win the Formula Two European Championship for the Surtees team, then moved into Formula One.

In 1978, after an eleven year retirement from motorcycle racing, Mike Hailwood® made a legendary 'comeback' to win another Isle of Man T.T. on a Ducati 900SS and with it, his 10th World Championship.

Following a car accident near Birmingham, England in which his nine year old daughter Michelle was killed instantly; Mike and David were taken to hospital, where Mike died two days later on 23rd March 1981.

The Legend Returns

This exclusive Ducati Scrambler Special Edition Mike Hailwood® is inspired by the Ducati 900SS that Mike Hailwood rode to victory during his legendary Isle of Man comeback in 1978, eleven years after his retirement from motorcycle racing. Mike’s first encounter with Ducati was in 1958 when he was just 18, 58 years ago. It is for this reason that we have produced the Ducati Scrambler Hailwood in a limited, numbered edition of 58 only. Honouring his love for motorcycles, this Hailwood Edition offers a unique interpretation of Italian sophistication and elegance, while also capturing the essence of why the world came to know him as “Mike the Bike”.

In October 2015, the 1972’s Imola 200 winner Paul Smart has introduced Apichat Leenutaphong owner of Ducati Thailand to Pauline Hailwood (Mike’s wife), where the two have exchanged the idea about building a Scrambler Hailwood Edition. This bike is to be delivered in 2016 to commemorate the 58th anniversary since Mike’s first encounter with Ducati. In honouring Mike Hailwood®, only 58 units of this special edition Ducati Scrambler are to be produced.

In collaboration between Ducati Thailand and Hailwood family, this bike is a fully customised Ducati Scrambler Icon that features a number of special components that show the model’s high level of sophistication and exclusivity. The motorcycle proudly presents the same dynamic red, white and green livery as Mike’s race winning Ducati in 1978.

“By becoming the owner of this bike, you have not only acquired a special limited edition motorcycle, but also made a sound investment into the legend of Mike Hailwood,” Pauline Hailwood.